Laundry detergents are often deficient in handling stains due to grass, blood, oil, greases, and certain other sources. Consequently, various compositions have been developed as "pre-spotters" or "pre-washes". See e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,438,009; 4,595,527; and 4,749,516. The disclosure of these patents (and of all other publications described herein) are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
Such compositions are typically applied directly to difficult stains a few minutes before the normal washing process. However, those pre-spotters which are the most effective against stains can sometimes also lift the dye from cloth so as to create an undesirable faded area.
More generally, it is desirable to have effective hard surface cleaners that use relatively low levels of surfactants. Such cleaners are of interest as hand cleaners, window cleaners, and/or bathroom/kitchen cleaners. Surfactants having unusual characteristics are also desirable as carriers for insecticides and for various other applications (e.g. light benders).
There have been some attempts to combine polymeric thickeners with surfactants to improve cleaning characteristics. See e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,489,397; 5,393,454; and 5,393,453. However, none of these prior compositions has optimal characteristics, especially for use as a laundry pre-spotter.
In unrelated matters, there has been research regarding the gelation characteristics of highly diluted (e.g. 0.1% or much less) surfactants when mixed with various hydrophobically modified polyelectrolytes. See A. Sarrazin-Cartalas, et al. 10 Amer. Chem. Soc. 1421-1426 (1994).